The Authority
The Authority a professional wrestling stable led by Triple H, which originated due to Triple H helping Randy Orton to win the WWE Championship from Daniel Bryan at the 2013 pay-per-view SummerSlam. Seth Rollins was the first person to hold the WWE United States Championship and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the same time. The stable is led by company executives Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, and many other wrestlers have been part of the group, most notably Seth Rollins as "The Man" until suffering a knee injury in November 2015, until October 2015 and Randy Orton as The Authority's hand-picked champion and "Face of the WWE" until March 2015. The Shield formerly acted as The Authority's main henchmen to offer protection or carry out attacks until March 2014. The name of "The Authority" was introduced in October 2013. The Authority shares similarities with The Corporation and The McMahon-Helmsley Faction, and has also had ties to Triple H's previous stables D-Generation X and Evolution. History 2013 From June 2013, members of the McMahon family began to dispute various elements of the control of WWE, such as the fates of Daniel Bryan, and of Raw and SmackDown General Managers Brad Maddox and Vickie Guerrero. On the July 15 episode of Raw, John Cena chose Bryan as his opponent for his WWE Championship defence at SummerSlam. In the following weeks, Vince McMahon would repeatedly offer Bryan a corporate makeover, which Bryan would consistently refuse. Triple H would subsequently announce himself to be the special guest referee for the match. At SummerSlam, Bryan defeat Cena to win the WWE Championship. After the match, Triple H would give Bryan a Pedigree, allowing Randy Orton to cash in his Money in the Bank contract, and turning both men heel in the process. The following night on Raw, Orton would have a championship coronation with Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H, with Triple H inviting Bryan to the ring to clear the air from the night before. This would be a ruse, as Orton would attack Bryan, with them all standing over Bryan, holding the WWE Championship high and cementing the formation of the group. That same night, The Shield would begin to work for Triple H as his enforcers. Kane would also join The Authority as the "Director of Operations". During this time, The Authority were also feuding with Big Show, who as well as Bryan, was voicing his displeasure of Triple H's regime. As punishment for this, Show would be placed in a three-on-one tornado handicap match against The Shield, which Show lost and would be forced to sit at ringside during his friends matches and watch them being attacked by members of The Authority at the risk of being fired. The Authority would later claim that Show was broke, and forced him to knock out the likes of Bryan and The Miz, again at the risk of being fired. At Battleground, Show would interfere in the WWE Championship match between Bryan and Orton and knocked out both of them, sending a message to The Authority and causing the match to end in a no contest. The following night on Raw, Show would be fired by The Authority after he announced he was ordered to only knock out Bryan the night before. Following this, Show would knock out Triple H before be escorted by officials out of the arena. After Stephanie McMahon took possession of Show's house and Triple H banned him from WWE for life, Show would begin to run-in and attack various superstars over the next several weeks. On the November 4 episode of Raw, The Authority was forced by the Board of Directors to give Show whatever he wants in return for not suing the company. Show would ask for his job back and a WWE Championship match against Orton at Survivor Series, which he received. At the pay-per-view, Orton would go on to successfully retain his title. The Authority were also involved in a short feud with Cody Rhodes, after Rhodes also spoke out against Triple H's authoritarian rule, was forced in a match against Orton on the September 2 episode of Raw, with his job on the line, which he lost and was fired after the match. Over the next few weeks, his brother Goldust would try and win his job back, losing to Orton on an episode of Raw, while his father Dusty Rhodes, after confronting Stephanie McMahon, was knocked out unwillingly by Big Show while pleading for his sons to get their jobs back. At Battleground, Rhodes would win his job back after teaming up with Goldust by defeating Shield members Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns in a non-title match. On the October 14 Raw, The Rhodes Brothers would go on defeat Rollins and Reigns again in a no disqualification match for the WWE Tag Team Championship after an attack by Big Show. Orton would continue to feud with Bryan over the WWE Championship, where at Night of Champions, Bryan would defeat Orton to win the title. However, the following night on Raw, Triple H would strip Bryan of the title due to a fast 3-count by referee Scott Armstrong. Orton and Bryan would compete for the vacanted WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell, where Orton would win back the title after special guest referee Shawn Michaels would super kick Bryan, allying himself with The Authority. On the November 25 episode of Raw, Orton's long time rival, World Heavyweight Champion John Cena, suggested that there should only be "one champion" in WWE. Triple H would announce a unification match at TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, where Orton defeated Cena to unify his WWE Championship with Cena's World Heavyweight Championship (WWE), which ultimately created the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. 2014 Orton would defeat Cena again in a rematch at Royal Rumble after interference by The Wyatt Family. At Elimination Chamber, Orton would retain his title in the Chamber match, defeating Cena, Sheamus, Bryan, Christian and Cesaro. Bryan's feud with The Authority intensified due to Authority members getting involved in Bryan's matches. This would lead to Bryan challenging Triple H to a match at WrestleMania XXX, with Triple H refusing, until the March 10 episode of Raw, after Bryan would rally dozens of his fans to occupy the ring, Triple H would finally accept the challenge. Triple H would later add a stipulation where the winner of their match would be placed in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship later that night, making it a Triple Threat match. At WrestleMania XXX, Bryan would defeat Triple H and would later defeat Orton and Batista to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The next night on Raw, Triple H would challenge Bryan for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. After Bryan was attacked by Orton, Batista, and Kane before the match, The Shield would interfere and attack The Authority. As punishment, the following week on Raw, The Shield competed in an 11-on-3 handicap match, where after they were assaulted by all eleven superstars, the match would be declared a no contest. Following the match, Orton, Batista, and Triple H would reunite as Evolution, and would attack The Shield. During this, Stephanie McMahon and Kane would continue to feud with Bryan. At Extreme Rules, The Shield would defeat Evolution and Bryan would defeat Kane to retain his title. The following night on Raw, Triple H would force Dean Ambrose to defend his United States Championship in a 20-man battle royal, with Ambrose being eliminated last by Sheamus, losing his title. The Authority began pressuring Bryan to give up the WWE World Heavyweight Championship as he was not physically cleared to compete, but Bryan refused. At Payback, after threatening to fire Bryan's wife Brie Bella after Stephanie McMahon viewed Brie shoving her as "assault", Brie instead 'quit' before slapping Stephanie. That same night, Evolution were once again defeated by The Shield. 2015 On the January 5 episode of Raw, The Authority punished each member of Team Cena; Ziggler was forced to battle and was defeated by Bad News Barrett for the Intercontinental Championship in a 2-out-of-3 falls match; Rowan was forced to battle and was defeated by Harper, with J&J Security as special guest referees; and Ryback was forced to battle and was defeated by Rollins and Kane in a handicap match. Later that night, The Authority, during what they called "John Cena Appreciation Night", invited Ziggler, Rowan and Ryback into the ring with Cena, only to fire all three men. Cena then attempted to win their jobs back, and, on the January 19 episode of Raw, defeated Rollins, Kane and Show in a 3-on-1 handicap match, once again with the help of Sting, thereby reinstating Ziggler, Rowan and Ryback's jobs. At Royal Rumble, Rollins was unsuccessful in winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from Lesnar in a Triple Threat match also involving Cena. In the Rumble match, both Show and Kane were unsuccessful after Roman Reigns eliminated both men at the same time. At Fastlane, Rollins, Kane and Show defeated Ziggler, Rowan and Ryback in a six-man tag team match. Following the match, Randy Orton made his return, attacking J&J Security and Kane. Later that night, Triple H would have a face-to-face confrontation with Sting, which ended up in a brawl. Sting issued a challenge to Triple H for a match at WrestleMania 31, which Triple H accepted. The following night on Raw, The Authority attempted to persuade a returning Randy Orton to rejoin them following his attack of Authority personnel, though Orton would not give a direct answer until the group met up backstage. Orton agreed to rejoin the stable, and he and Rollins were subsequently booked in a tag team match for later that night against Daniel Bryan and Reigns. The loss Orton and Rollins suffered in the match further exacerbated tension between the two. The tension would finally reach a head a few weeks later when Orton refused a tag from Rollins and left the ring during a match with Roman Reigns. Orton would then brutally beat Rollins for several minutes after the bout, ultimately putting him through an announce table with an RKO. At WrestleMania 31, The Authority won several big victories; Triple H defeated Sting in Sting's WWE debut match (shaking his hand afterwards), and Big Show won the 30-man André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal; after losing in his singles match against Orton earlier in the night, Rollins cashed his Money in the Bank contract during the main event between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, turning it into a triple threat match, becoming a world champion for the first time and giving The Authority its first world title since Orton lost it in the previous WrestleMania. At Extreme Rules, Rollins defeated Orton in a Steel Cage match to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, while Big Show lost to Roman Reigns in a Last Man Standing match. Show would take a brief hiatus from WWE afterwards. On the April 27 episode of Raw, it was announced, by vote on the WWE App, that Rollins would defend the title against Orton and Reigns in a triple threat match at Payback, which was later turned into a fatal four-way match including Dean Ambrose on the May 4 episode of Raw, after Ambrose defeated Rollins. By that time, signs of dissension were shown between Rollins and Kane, however, after Triple H announced on the May 11 episode of Raw that Kane would no longer be the WWE Director of Operations if Rollins lost the title at Payback, at the event Kane helped Rollins retain the title. On the May 18 episode of Raw, Ambrose challenged Rollins to a match for the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at Elimination Chamber, but Rollins refused. Later in the night, Ambrose attacked Rollins until The Authority granted Ambrose a title match against Rollins at the event. At Elimination Chamber, Ambrose defeated Rollins by disqualification; therefore Ambrose did not win the championship. After the match, Ambrose took the title belt. During the Raw after Elimination Chamber, Big Show returned alone and quietly separated from the Authority. At Money in the Bank, Rollins defeated Ambrose in a ladder match to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. On the June 15 episode of Raw, The Authority reinstated Brock Lesnar, who returned to the WWE and invoked his rematch clause (after losing the championship to Rollins at WrestleMania 31) to face Rollins at Battleground for the championship. On the July 6 edition of Raw, when Lesnar destroyed J&J Security's Cadillac given to them by Rollins, both Noble and Mercury were injured by Lesnar; this resulted in them being out of action indefinitely. A week later, during the contract signing for the match on the July 13 episode of Raw, Rollins and Kane attempted to attack Lesnar, but Lesnar thwarted them by executing a F5 to Kane to the floor and later injuring Kane's ankle using a steel step. After Lesnar left, Rollins blamed Kane for the failure of the attack attempt, and further exacerbated his ankle injury by attacking him. With this move, Kane was also left out of action indefinitely and this left the Authority with only three active members: Rollins, Triple H, and Stephanie McMahon. At Battleground, Rollins retained the championship when The Undertaker interfered and attacked Lesnar for a disqualification. At SummerSlam, Rollins would face John Cena in a Winner-Takes-All match where Cena's United States Championship was also on the line. Rollins would be successful when Jon Stewart, the former host of The Daily Show and the host of SummerSlam (who had been involved in a mini-feud with Rollins) interfered on Rollins' behalf, thus making Rollins a double champion and the first man in WWE to hold both a world title and a secondary title simultaneously since Triple H himself briefly did so in 2002. On November 4, 2015, at a live show in Dublin, Ireland, during a match with Kane, Rollins suffered tears in his right ACL, MCL, and medial meniscus, and must undergo surgery and miss 6–9 months of action. As a result, he was forced to vacate the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on November 5. On the following episode of Raw, Triple H announced a tournament to crown a new WWE World Heavyweight Champion, then introduced Roman Reigns, who he gave the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, then told Reigns it could be his if he replaced Seth Rollins as the "Face of the Authority". He declined the offer, leading to Triple H "remembering why he chose Rollins and not Reigns" and put him in a match against authority loyalist Big Show, who failed Triple H forcing him to find a new member to replace Seth Rollins. At Survivor Series, Sheamus cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and defeated newly crowned champion Roman Reigns, after he refused to shake hands with Triple H, to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, thus aligning with Triple H and The Authority. On the November 30 episode of Raw, Sheamus announced that he had formed his own stable called The League of Nations along with King Barrett (England), Alberto Del Rio (Mexico), and Rusev (Bulgaria). This new stable – with the theme of all members having been born and becoming stars overseas – remained associates of The Authority, while becoming its own entity. Member In wrestling * Triple H ** Pedigree (Double underhook facebuster) * Stephanie McMahon ** Pedigree (Double Underhook Facebuster) – adopted from Triple H * Entrance themes ** "King of Kings" by Motörhead (August 19, 2013 – November 23, 2014; December 29, 2014–present) Category:Professional wrestling teams and stables Category:WWE teams and stables